A shamed former health chief is heading up a private firm that provides driver training courses for the NHS .

Paul Leaman, 59, used an ambulance to go to France on a booze cruise while he was a paramedic at Essex Ambulance Service, now part of East of England Ambulance Service Trust.

And after moving into management he gave business to a pal’s firm instead of sticking to competitive tendering processes. Watchdog the Health Professions Council found him guilty of serious misconduct in 2009 and he was suspended for a year.

Mr Leaman retired in October 2014 and became chairman of Emergency Services Training and Review, or Emstar, two months later.

Leaman used an ambulance to go on booze cruise to France (Image: Alamy Stock Photo)

The firm had inked a framework agreement with EEAST in July 2014 and won the driver training deal last month.

An insider said: “People will be surprised to learn a senior officer disciplined for serious misconduct is now using his NHS contacts to bid for lucrative contracts.”

But Mr Leaman, of Chelmsford, Essex, said he never had any “decision-making authority or input” into external training while at EEAST. He added: “Emstar, along with other training providers, responded to a tender opportunity EEAST put out earlier this year.”

Our story last week

EEAST said: “The trust contracts with a range of providers for training and ­education, including Emstar. All ­such contracts are procured following open processes.”

The Sunday People revealed last week that EEAST spent £2million on private ambulances between last July and January due to chronic staff shortages.